I‘ve build my own lighttpd .deb package and I do not want to upgrade it using the apt-get command. Also, I do not want to upgrade a few more packages such as php5-cgi, httpd and so on. How do I blacklist a package or packages so that when I run apt-get upgrade, it will ignore blacklisted packages and install the rest of updates under Debian or Ubuntu Linux server system?

I‘ve the NetworkManager service is installed and started under Linux desktop. The applet is running. The NetworkManager can display available network hardware and wireless networks. But, I’m unable to add VPN support as the Add tab is greyed out. I need to use both PPTP and Cisco vpn clients. How do I fix this problem under Debian or Ubuntu Linux?

Problem is that every time I click something I get annoying sound from computer speaker. So I tried to disable or set new sound theme by visiting System > Preferences > Sound. The Sound Theme tab is greyed out. Sound itself is not working and I can only get annoying sound. How do I fix this problem under Debian or Ubuntu Linux gnome desktop system?